120 Hours of Yoga

Day 53, Hour 49 of 120 Hours of Yoga "You don't have to wait until life isn't hard anymore, before you decide to be happy." -Nightbirde Today was hard. From the moment I woke up, until I sit here writing this just a few hours before bed, every.single.minute of this day has been hard.  I could write a logistical list of everything that went wrong today, starting with a sleepless night, then a 6am yoga class at a new (to me) studio that felt flat; a Monday of work after a long weekend, in a job that doesn't inspire me anymore, and an entire day of struggling with my son over summer classes that he CHOSE to sign up for (none of these classes are required) but has been consistently behind since the day they started ... and on and on and on ...  I have been on the brink of boiling over, emotionally, all day. And then I went to a 4:30pm yoga class at Modo, a studio that helps me to sweat it out, with an instructor that I really like (who I describe as "effervescent...

Day 48, Hour 43 of 120 Hours of Yoga The "Modo Flow" classes are seriously awesome and challenge me - a beginning yogi - in equal but different ways than the standard Modo yoga classes do. The pace of transition between movements is elevated, and some poses that I can't do (yet) get thrown in there, but there are always modifications and I do what I can. The studio seems a little hotter in the late afternoon and evening classes than it does in the morning, and the flow classes are scheduled later in the day. The increased room temperature and the faster pace equate to extra sweat, and I love it. It seems like the attendance is greater in the flow classes than the regular ones, and the extra bodies definitely contribute to a hotter room, too.  It's good! So day 48, hour 43 of yoga was spent at a 430pm flow class. I got there early, as usual. I'm so anxious that I won't be able to secure a spot along a wall if I show up later than 20 minutes before class, and so...

Day 41, Hour 36 of 120 Hours of Yoga A few days ago I attended a yoga class and it seemed like I was falling out of every single balancing pose before I even got into it. Toppling Tree, Standing Tree, Dancer's, Eagle .. every single pose that required me to balance at all, I felt shaky and weak, and needed to reset multiple times.  Even poses where I had both feet on the ground, but required a squat - or especially a squat and twist - were difficult, and I felt like I could easily topple over. This morning I was in class and had the exact opposite experience. My balancing poses felt strong, and many of them I was able to get into and hold for the entire count without falling-out or having to reset once. It's not that I'm significantly stronger or that my stabilizing/balancing muscles are that much more refined today than they were a few days ago. I'm finding that yoga, like any practice, is an experience with ebbs and flows. Two steps forward, one step back.  I read a q...

Day 37, Hour 32 of 120 Hours of Yoga Short entry today. I'm getting into the studio consistently, and noticing increased flexibility. Standing/balancing poses are still challenging, and today I actually felt like I had taken a few steps back in my progress with the balancing poses.  Dancer's Pose gave me particular trouble today; I fell out of the pose every single time I reached for my foot. I wasn't too disheartened, though. I figured my body was just working through some growing pains, or was tired. I've been running a bit lately, so maybe that had something to do with it. Some specific progress to report, happily! Reclining Hero's pose has always been painful for me. Literally painful. The extreme tightness in my IT bands, hips, and knees, makes even sitting in a kneeling position difficult. 37 days ago I would sit on my knees with my hands on the ground in front of me, taking some pressure off of my knees. I could barely sit on my knees; reclining back was not ...

Day 31, Hour 25 of 120 Hours of Yoga Every time I walk into the yoga building, my routine is the same: check-in to class, leave my flip-flops on the floor near the shoe bins, walk into the studio and settle into my spot until class starts. Most of my time there is spent in silence. I might say hello to the instructor as I walk in, or tell them I checked-in using the app, but that's all. I hear other students chatting outside the yoga studio door as they arrive. Clearly some know each other, or attend class with a friend or a partner. I'm here by myself. When I walked in to Modo for hour 25 of my 120 hour yoga challenge, Austin was standing behind the desk. We engaged in conversation. Not just "hello, how are you, see you in there", but actual conversation. We chatted for maybe 5 minutes. We ended the conversation with "see you in the studio" and then I placed my flip-flops where I always do. If you've read my past blog entries, you'll know that I alw...

Day 28, Hour 22 of 120 Hours of Yoga I attended yoga twice today: 6am and 6pm. This is the second time that I've done 2 classes in one day and I like the challenge. Because this is a hot-yoga studio, I'm careful to drink a ton of water, especially on the days that I practice twice. The studio has an app that allows you to schedule classes from your phone, and check-in to class up to 30 minutes before class starts. "Contactless check-in" helps things flow more smoothly especially when a lot of people are coming in for class at the same time, where the lobby can get a bit congested as people wait in line to check-in at the front desk.  I installed the app and have used it to check in the last few days. As I approached the building for the evening class, about 25 minutes before class started, I opened the app on my phone and checked-in.  The studio is now allowing students to enter almost 30 minutes early, up from the recent 15, as long as the cleaning from the previous ...